for whosoever shall desire to save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, *he* shall save it.
Jesus has just told His followers that He will be rejected, killed, and raised. He now lays down the rule that follows, and it sounds like a riddle: saving ends in losing, and losing ends in saving.
The word behind "life" is usually translated "soul." One writer explains what that word covers:
The word translated "life" here is usually translated "soul." It refers to the "soul life" that marks man in his natural fallen condition. The soul is not the same as the spirit. The spirit is the higher part of man, able to put him in intelligent touch with God. The soul is the seat of our natural desires and longings. So "soul life" is the life of enjoying everything that appeals to us by nature.
The saying works on two levels. What a man keeps on one level, he loses on the other:
Everything now depends on eternal life. It is no longer a question of living long on the earth. This was, and will be, all very well for the Jew. But the cross of Christ is the burial of all Jewish thoughts. So if a man is careful to save his life now, he will lose it. He may save it in a lower sense, but he will lose it in a deeper. He may save it in this world, but lose it for eternity. But if I am willing to lose it in the lower, I shall save it in the best — the eternal — sense.
Jesus says this right after announcing His own rejection. The quotes never say Luke alone records the daily cross:
The Lord announces to all the plain consequence. If anyone will follow after Him, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Him. He was not going to have the present glory of Messiah. He was going a sorrowful journey right to the end, even to death. And this was the daily character of the service... And whoever would save his life would lose it... Whoever should lose his life for Christ's sake should find it really.
Talk of saving and losing can sound like a price you pay to be saved. One writer rules that out:
The Lord speaks these words to the disciples, not to unbelievers. It is therefore not a question of salvation. We are not asked to deny self and take up the cross to be saved. These words tell us that the way the Lord went is the way of all His true disciples. It is not only possible to believe in the Lord and not follow Him; it is the most common thing we see around us today.
For some believers, losing their life has meant dying. But the principle reaches further:
Someone may attach himself to this world. He may seek his life in it, or keep it as a life he clings to, over against the rejected Christ. Such a man loses it. We are not always called to give up our lives in fact, though this can happen, and often has. But in moral terms it always applies. Whoever loves his life, and holds on to it as if it belonged to this world, loses it. It is a life of vanity, as cut off from God as the world it attaches itself to, and it ends only in death.
What looks like the safe choice turns out to be the losing one:
Suppose someone wants to save his life — that is, to escape the dangers that come with true discipleship. In the end he would only lose his life. But if he willingly lost his life for Christ's sake, he would truly save it, in its real and lasting worth.
This saying comes back in the Gospels more often than anything else Jesus said:
Of all His wonderful words in the Gospels, this is the only one, as far as I know, that comes back again and again. With slight variations, it appears no less than six times. Read these passages: Matthew 10:39; 16:25; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24; 17:33. Together with the one in John 12, they make six. So He pressed this truth home on four occasions: when He sent out His twelve disciples; just before His transfiguration; when giving a prophetic address not long before the end of His ministry; and within a few days of His death.
- Life — the word means "soul": the natural life of desires and enjoyments that fallen man lives for.
- Lower — you can keep that life at the lower level and still lose it at the deeper, eternal one.
- Loss — losing it for Christ's sake may mean death. It always means letting go of a life that belongs to this world.
- Daily — the cross is not a one-time crisis. It is the daily shape of following a rejected Christ.
- Repeated — the Lord said this more often than anything else on record. He said it to disciples, not as the price of salvation, but as the road they walk.
For what shall a man profit if he shall have gained the whole world, and have destroyed, or come under the penalty of the loss of himself?
Jesus has just spoken of His own suffering and called His followers to take up the cross. Now He weighs the biggest prize anyone could win against the loss of himself, and asks whether that trade pays.
One writer links the disciple's road straight to the Lord's own suffering:
This suffering of the Son of Man at once defines the path for the disciple. "He said to them all, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." It was in no way the enjoyment of earthly things. That would be right and fitting in the Kingdom when He reigns as the Christ... But that is not the character of Christianity. The cross shows us our true path. If Christ suffered, the Christian cannot expect to be above his Master.
The choice here has only two sides:
You see, it comes down to one of two things: either give up everything for Christ, or go after everything apart from Him.
Scripture elsewhere speaks of losing "his soul." Luke says "himself." One writer explains why that wording matters:
The parallel place in Luke 9:25 shows that "his soul" is just the equivalent of "himself"... The finding and losing of the soul in the present world are reversed in the world to come. The finding becomes losing, the losing finding there. He who makes himself the object of his life loses himself and is cast away. He who sacrifices self and its interests for Christ's sake is really preserving all for the world to come.
The same writer adds that this does not require an actual martyr's death: "the actual laying down of life in martyrdom is not necessary at all to the application."
Profit and loss depend on how far ahead you count:
Everything now depends on eternal life. It is no longer a question of living long on the earth... So if a man is careful to save his life now, he will lose it. He may save it in a lower sense, but he will lose it in a deeper. He may save it in this world, but lose it for eternity. But if I am willing to lose it in the lower sense, I will save it in the best — the eternal — sense.
The world cannot be held anyway, which is what makes the bargain absurd:
It comes to this: that if you spare the flesh in this life, you will lose your life in the next... It is giving up the world for eternal life, or for eternal misery — that is the real question. "What is a man advantaged?" You must give it up; you cannot keep it.
Saving your own life can look like plain good sense. One writer shows what it really costs:
If someone wants to save his life — that is, to escape the dangers that come with true discipleship — in the end he will only lose it. One may think he is saving his life by gaining the world or piling up great riches. But he can do all this and still lose himself, or be cast away as useless. Many are snared by such delusions. Such things involve being ashamed of Christ Himself and of His words. They mean being ashamed of the One who did not seek gain or honour for Himself in the world, but who willingly accepted the place of rejection.
So what is a single soul worth? One writer looks in one place for the answer:
What is the worth of your soul? The blessed Son of God gave Himself for my soul. If I want to know the value of the soul, I look at the cross. I look at this holy, sinless, spotless One going down to death to redeem it. That is the value of the human soul.
- Cross first. Christ suffered first, and His road is the disciple's road. The follower does not rise above his Master.
- Profit next. The verse asks about profit. The biggest possible gain still buys nothing you can keep.
- Self is the stake. Luke's "himself" and "his soul" mean the same thing. A man does not just lose things; he loses himself.
- Timing decides. Save your life in the lower sense and you lose it in the deeper. Let it go for Christ, and you keep it for eternity.
- Price revealed. The whole world cannot buy one soul. The cross shows what a soul is worth.
For whosoever shall have been ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of man be ashamed when he shall come in his glory, and [in that] of the Father, and of the holy angels.
Peter has just confessed Jesus as the Christ. The Lord answers by foretelling His own rejection and death, and by calling anyone who follows Him to take up a cross. This verse adds a warning to that call. Shame felt now, before a hostile world, meets its answer on the day the Son of Man appears in glory.
Luke keeps a practical principle in view:
Luke, as he usually does, links Christ's rejection and death to a great moral principle: "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself." The Lord will have the cross be real, not only for a man, but to him too. It is a blessing to know what God has worked for us in the cross of Christ. But we must also learn what verdict the cross passes on the world and on human nature.
The world we walk through has not changed its mind about Him.
We pass through a world that is hostile to Christ, and confessing Him costs something in such a place. He gives no reason to expect its spirit to change for the better — rather the opposite.
The Lord names two things a person can be ashamed of: Himself, and what He said.
Chasing gain in this world means being ashamed of Christ Himself and of His words — ashamed of the One who did not seek gain or honour for Himself here, but gladly took the place of rejection. The day was coming when He would come again. He would come no longer in humble lowliness, but as the Son of Man in His own glory over all mankind, in His Father's glory and in the glory of the holy angels, all giving Him the place of great dignity. Then He would be ashamed of those who were ashamed of Him and His words when He came in grace. A solemn reversal of the whole matter!
One writer turns it on himself, then on the reader:
I used to be ashamed of Jesus, and now I am ashamed that I ever was. My dear friend, I hope you may from now on be ashamed that you have ever been ashamed of Jesus. Ashamed of Jesus! Ashamed of love! Ashamed of infinite grace! Ashamed of the One who gave up everything for us, who did everything for us.
Each of the three glories says something different about Him:
Matthew and Mark say the angels attend Him when He comes in His Father's glory. But Luke points us to three displays: the glory of the Son of Man, the glory of the Father, and the glory of the holy angels. What a blaze of glory will meet the eyes of those who see Him! His own glory was won by His humiliation, suffering and death, and it will show how great the work is that He has done... The Father's glory shines in the One who sought it and secured it while He was here on earth, in life and in death. It marks Him out as the One in whom the Father finds His deep delight.
The presence of angels around a man is itself the point:
It is a rejected Man Who is exalted on high... Being a man did not take away any of His divine rights. The angels were all subject to Him as man. He had a title above them because He was God. And He had won a further title above them because He had died on the cross.
One writer marks off which coming this is:
Here we find the glory displayed in this threefold way. It is that glory when He appears. And here it is a matter of His being ashamed of those who have been ashamed of Him. They could not give up present advantage. I am not speaking here of the Father's house, which of course is a different thing. Here it is the kingdom shown in its glory to the earth.
What happens next on the mountain is a sample of that glory:
At once the Lord spoke of their seeing the kingdom of God. Three chosen disciples saw it displayed before their eyes on the holy mountain. The glory of the Son of Man showed in His white and shining clothes, and His personal glory in the light of His face. His Father's glory was there too, in the cloud out of which the Father's voice came.
- Shame now — the world has not changed its mind about Christ, so confessing Him costs something.
- Shame then — the One who was despised will appear in glory, and He will be ashamed of those who were ashamed of Him. A solemn reversal.
- Three glories — Luke names all three. His own glory, won by suffering and death. His Father's glory, shining in the Son who sought it and secured it. And the glory of angels, who are subject to Him as man.
- Which day — this is His public appearing and the kingdom shown to the earth, not the Father's house.
- Preview given — on the holy mountain three disciples saw that glory in advance: His shining clothes, His face, and the Father's voice from the cloud.